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“It’s Mika and Gavin.”
She smiled, but it vanished when she caught the scent. Strong and metallic. Blood. Lots of blood.
“We need to hurry,” she said.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Hand in hand, we sprinted into the woods, following our noses in the direction of their scents. We ascended a small hill, climbing over thick, prickly bushes that choked the path. Once through, we climbed another small hill that ended on a large open plateau. What we saw stopped us in our tracks.
Blood was splattered everywhere—on the leaves and moss, the tree trunks, and the ground. Even worse, there were what looked like wolf body parts. A leg lay only a few feet from me. It had the same grayish hue as Mika’s wolf.
A scream tore me from my thoughts. At the furthest end of the small plateau, Gavin lay on his back, swinging a stick at a large reptilian ghost. Gavin was not in good shape. Blood smeared his entire face, and a nasty gash ran down his left cheek all the way to his neck. Another wound must have taken him in the leg because his entire golden suit was shredded below the knee, showing nothing but red.
Gavin saw us and screamed. “Help me! Oh, gods, help me!”
The panic in his voice made me forget how much I disliked him. Kira and I rushed forward. The ghost spun when it heard us. The thing was awful to behold. Whatever it had been in life, death had twisted it into something that should have only resided in nightmares. Kira bent and scooped up the enchanted weapon—a metallic scepter that Gavin must have dropped during the fight.
The ghost drove toward me, lunging to claw out my throat with the kinetic energy ghosts drew from some unknown power source. Before he caught me, I dived to the side and rolled away. It turned, translucent eyes following me, and it left its blindside open.
Kira jammed the scepter into it. With a flash of light, the ghost rushed deep into the forest, either terrified of or injured by the magical weapon.
Unconsciously, I scooped up a jelly-like chunk of ectoplasm and shoved it into a zippered pocket on my suit, then went to Gavin. Kira was kneeling beside him, checking his injuries. It didn’t look good. The ghost had almost taken his jugular.
His leg looked even worse. A deep gash in his calf exposed muscle and fascia.
“Kira?” Gavin whispered, his voice hoarse from pain and screaming. “Help me up. I’ll help you hunt your creature.”
“Gavin, you aren’t going anywhere like that,” I said as I snatched up a length of golden fabric that had been part of an outfit some time ago.
I handed it to Kira, who quickly made a tourniquet with the fabric and a stick nearby. “He’s right, Gavin. We need to get you back to the mansion. The healers need to get to you before it’s too late.”
He struggled to his feet, wincing as he put weight on his damaged leg. To my surprise, he didn’t complain or whine, just tightened the tourniquet.
What he said next surprised me even more. “You’re right. I’ll get in the way if I try to help you. I’ll head back.” It looked like it physically pained him to say those words.
“Here, man. You’ll need this for them to let you back in.” I dug into my pocket, pulled out the ectoplasm, and put it in his hand.
Gavin stowed it away and gave me a nod, the closest I’d ever get to athank you.
“You good?” I asked, nodding to his leg.
“I’ll be fine,” he grunted.
“Be careful, Gavin,” Kira said.
He smiled at her, but the cut on his face had him wincing. “Yeah. You too. Wyatt, you get her back in one piece or you’ll answer to me. Got it?”
Now wasn’t the time to argue, so I played along. “Got it, big guy.”
Gavin turned to limp away, but Kira stopped him. “Gavin, wait. Was Mika here with you? It, uh, looks like he was.” She glanced down at a bloody piece of fur and skin by her foot. “Did… did you see him die?”
Gavin shook his head but pointed at the flesh on the ground. “No, but you’re right. I don’t think he made it. I’m sorry. I know you liked him.” Regardless of his words, it was obvious he didn’t really give a damn that Mika might be dead.
The cameras swooped in to get a good shot of Gavin hobbling away into the forest. Kira stared at the gore surrounding the area, her face pensive and worried. Honestly, I was worried as well. The legreallylooked like it came from Mika’s wolf.
She looked ready to break down into sobs. I pulled her close, hugging her hard and pressing my lips to her ear to ensure the cameras wouldn’t hear. “If Zoe took him and this is staged, she may have left a sign or something. You can send word to Zoe and find out the truth. Do not panic or freak out until we’re sure. Okay?”
“What if we waited too long? What if he’s actually dead? If he is, it really is my fault.”
“Hush. Let’s see if Zoe left any signal or clues,” I said, trying to cut off Kira’s negative thoughts before they destroyed any hope she had left.
